今年の春に練馬の渋谷園芸本店で買った品種不明の棗です。名札落ち苗で、そのお店が過去に「中国大実ナツメ」のタグで苗を販売していたうちの１本かも知れないということでした。葉っぱの形状から日本種でないことは確実だったので買ってみました。非常に豊産性で、最終的に10個残して後は摘果。色づき次第食べていたので、その10個のうち今は３個だけ残っています。
This is the jujube tree that I bought at a large nursery in Nerima in spring this year. The tree had no name tag and the only thing the shop assistants could tell me was that they used to sell a Chinese variety and this tree might be a leftover from those days. Judging by the shape of the leaves, I knew that it was not a Japanese jujube, so I brought it home. This tree has proved to be extremely prolific, and I kept removing young fruits until I was left with 10 to mature. Of the 10 fruits, I now have only 3 left, since I have been picking others as they became ripe.
以下は、３個残っている実の大きい順に掲載。
The following are the 3 fruits, in descending order.
葉っぱと幼果の形状から一時は「郎棗」かと思っていましたが、最終的な実の形がこんなに丸っこいなら郎棗ではないと思います。
Looking at the shape of the leaves and the cylindrical young fruits, I at first though the tree was Lang jujube. However, the shape of the fruits became roundish as they matured, and I no longer think this to be Lang.一番大きい実を切ってみました。糖度計によると47.1%
I cut the largest one to see how sweet it was, and the Brix meter showed 47.1%.
こちらは48.0%。あくまでも糖度計の数値ですが、これまでで一番高いです。
食べてみると確かに甘い。そして熟すと果肉が白くなる皇帝やうちの日本種の実にはない、独特の旨味があります（写真ではこの果肉は白っぽいですが、実際は薄緑色）。
This half's sugar content hit 48.0%, according to the gadget. This is the highest I have seen. When I ate it, it was indeed sweet. Moreover, there was a unique taste that I had not tasted in jujubes whose flesh turn white when ripe such as Emperor jujube or the Japanese variety (in the photo, the flesh may look pale, but it was light green).
今年は皇帝、日本種、中国大実を味見できました。あと残るは早脆王（２個）と無核金絲棗（5個）の実で、これらは完熟にはまだ時間がかかりそうです。
収穫済みの品種を比較すると、以下のようになります：
実の大きさ： 皇帝＞中国大実＞日本種
糖度： 中国大実＞皇帝＝日本種
酸味： 日本種＞中国大実＞皇帝
果汁の多さ： 日本種＞皇帝＝中国大実
糖度と酸味を重視する私にとって、今のところ日本種が一番好みです。日本種の実の糖度は今年は測っていませんが、去年の10月14日の記事では最高で47.0%が出ています。酸味に関しては、以前育てていた輸入苗の台木が酸棗だったようで、直径1.5cmほどのまん丸の実が生りました。うちの日本種の実の一部には、その酸棗よりも酸っぱい場合がありました。日本ナツメには果汁が十分あります。唯一の難点は、実が小さいこと。
This year, so far, I have tasted Emperor jujube, Japanese jujube and today's unknown variety. There yet remain Early Crisp King (2 young fruits) and Seedless Gold Thread (5 young fruits). They will take a little longer to ripen.
Of the varieties I have tasted, the following is my personal observation:
Size of fruit: Emperor ＞ Unknown variety ＞ Japanese
Sugar content: Unknown variety ＞Emperor ＝ Japanese
Tartness: Japanese ＞ Unknown variety ＞ Emperor
Juiciness: Japanese ＞ Emperor ＝ Unknown variety
I value sweetness and tartness in jujube fruits more than anything, so my favourite as of now is the Japanese jujube. I did not measure the sugar content of the Japanese jujube this year, but the article on 14th October 2024 shows its sugar content is about the same as Emperor jujube's. As to tartness, the Japanese jujube was as sour as the fruits of the Sour Jujube, and sometimes even more sour. (I once grew a sucker from an imported jujube tree's root stock, and it turned out to be the Sour Jujube. Sour jujube is the most commonly used wild jujube as root stocks in China.) Also, the Japanese jujube is sufficiently juicy. The only snag is its small size.
